Diaphragm-horn.



A. L. McMURTRY.

DIAPHRAGM HORN.

APPLICATIQN FILED JULY 22.1915.

Patented Apr. 1, 1919.

pair earns a r-n t orator.

ALDEN L. IVIQMURTRY, SOUNfi BEACH, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR T LOVELL- MOCONNELL MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY, A COR- 'lPORATIOIN' OF DELAWARE.

nmr'nnaeM-Hoan.

' Original application filed February 6, 1912, Serial no. evaeooe. Divided and this 1915. Serial No. 11,239,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALDEN L. MOMURIRY,\ a citizen of the United Statesyand resident of Sound Beach, inthe county of Fairfield and State of Connecticut, have invented certainnew and useful Improvements in Dlaphragm-Horns, of which the following is a specification.

. This invention relates to a ty e of horn or warning signal most common y used on automobiles, motor-boats and the like,

wherein a vibratory diaphragm is used to produce the ,sound desired.

My present application is .a division of my prior and co-pending application, Se-

rial No. 675,8005, filed February 6th, 1912. In said application I have disclosed several difl'erent improvements for transmitting the power from a source of power to the diaphragm so as-to obtain eifective vibratory movements of the latter with minimum injurious effect on the diaphragm. One of the forms disclosed in said application, and

which is made the subject matter of the present application, relates to improvements for transmitting power from an outside source of power, such, for instance, as the engine of an automobile or motorboat, which is too powerful to be governed or have its speed limited by theacti'on ofthe diaphragm.

The invention, one form of which is hereinafter described in-detail, permits the manual connecting at will of the source of power and the rotary diaphragm-vibrating member, but at the same time automatically,

limits the speed of the latter, in case it. tefids to reach such a speed as might injuriously affect the diaphragm. Thus the horn may. be properly sounded at will and without danger of injury to the horn, irrespective of the speed of the source of power, In its preferred embodiment I incorporate twoseparateclutch deviceswithin the horn casing where they are protectedfrom dust and rain, and'make them apart ofthe horn itself so that the connection to the source of power may be very readily made when the horn is attached 'to the vehicle-or the support. v c 4 In the accompanying drawings, I have illustrated one embodiment of my invention. I do not desire to be limited to the specific construction illustrated in said drawings as it is Specification of Letters Patent.

'fined in the appended claims.

Patented Apr. 1, 1919 application filed July 22,

tions to the diaphragm as such constitutes no part /of my present invention. In these drawings, in which similar reference char acters indicate corresponding parts in the figures:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the operating mechanism within the casing, said casing being shown in section;

Fig.2 is a transverse section on the line 22 of Fig. 1.

3 is an end view of the friction clutch showing the drive shaft in section.

The specific form illustrated includes a cup-shaped casing 10 having a peripheral wall and a back wall 11, preferably integral therewith. At its front open end the casing is secured to a plate 12, which latter isv connected to a diaphragm casing 13. As shown,.the plate and diaphragm casing are connected by 'screws'lt. From a centrally located opening in the casing 13 extends a projector, or resonator, 15 of any desired or convenient form. Within the casing 13 is mounted a circular diaphragm 16, preferably of metal, held at its edges in any suitable manner, as for instance, between an annular shoulder on the interior of the casway limited to ing and a retaining ring 17 and secured in position by screws 18.

Passing through the center of the diaphragm 16, and having oneend rigidly secured thereto, is a spindle 19 which extends rearwardly through an opening in the plate 12 and through a spring 20 wlthin the casing 10. The spindle is threaded and provided with nuts 21 adapted to be positioned on'the spindle so as to bear against the opposite sides "of theaspring and hold the lat? ter at any. desired point along'the length of the spindle. One end of the spring is secured to the plate 12 adjacent to the periphery of the latter by means of an adjustable block 22 which need not here bedescribed .in

detail except that it permitsthe spring toextend from the block, either parallel to the plate 12 or at a desired small anglein re-- spect thereto.

Mounted on the plate 12 is a bracket 25 serving as a support for a rotatable shaft which lattercarries a bevel gear 28, the size of which may be proportioned to the normal speed of the source of power. This bevel gear engages with a small bevel gear 31 at one end of a shaft 30 rotatable in supports 29. The shaft 30 at its opposite end has a bevel gear 32 meshing with a bevel gear 33 on a shaft 34 which is rotatable in supports 35. On the shaft 34, preferably at the cen- 'ter thereof, is mounted a toothed pinion 36, the teeth of which are adapted to contact with the free end of the spring 20, which;

end, as shown,.is preferably curved and of narrowed width to permit of more compact and efficient construction. a

From the foregoing description, it will be seen that the rotating of the gear 28 at a moderate rate of speed operates to cause a rapid rotation of the toothed pinion 36 by reason of the train of multiplylng gears. The pinion 36, in rotating, contacts with the spring 20, and through it and the spindle 19, effects a vibratory movement ofthe diaphragm 16 to produce the desired sound.

The parts so far described form no portion of my present invention, and other means. may be employed for effecting the vibration of the diaphragm upon the rotation of the member 28. For instance, the latter might be so positioned and its teeth so formed as to directly engage with the end of the spindle 19, or with any form of wear-piece carried by, or connected to,'the

diaphragm. A multiplying train of gears is not necessary and is desirable only in case normal eed of, rotation of the member 28 is not su cient to vibrate the diaphragm at the desired speed and to produce the desired sound.

- of clutch teeth thereon, and at the other end has a cylindrical member 42. Adjacent to the gear 28 and carried by the same shaft as said gear is a member 43 provided with two-pro ecting lugs to which are journaled arms 44. arms are each'formed with an enlarged end portion and the opposite I faces are so positioned and are. so curved that they arev adapted to rest upon' the surface of the cylindrical member 42. The

- arms are drawn together and their curved end surfaces pressed against the member 42 bymeans of a, spring 45, the tension of which may be adjusted as desiredby means of the screw and nut 46. From outside of the. casingextends a drive shaft 47, illus- .66

trated as being flexible, and which leads automobile.

this shaft, which is disposed within the from any suitable source of power such for instance as the fly-wheel or the engme of an The terminal portion 48 of Casing, has a. collar 49 feathered'thereon and integral, or rigid with, the second half of the toothed clutch. Various means may be provided for shifting the collar 49.. As shown, it has an annular groove receiving the end of a lever arm 50 pivoted Within the casing 10. By means of a rod 51 secured to the lever arm 50 and projecting through the casing and provided with a handle, the clutch member 49 may be moved on the shaft 48 to' either engage with or disengage from the other half 41 of the clutch.

The clutch, being in engagement, it will be evident that the power will be ap- I plied through the frictional engagement of the member 42 and arms 44- to operate the mechanism of' the horn. The tension of the spring 45 which draws thearms 44 together is so adjusted that at a certain predetermined and desired speed, the centrifugal force caused by the rotation'of the member 43 .on which the arms are mounted,

will tend to force the arms outwardly against the action of the spring 45 to such an extent that they will release or reduce the frictional engagement of the curved end surfaces on the rotating member 42. In this manner, the rate of speed at which the actuating mechanism of the horn is driven may always be kept at or below a desired maximum. Thus, I have provided that the rate of speed of the actuating-mechanism shall never be so rapid as to become out of step with the desired periodicity o'r rapidity of the vibration of the diaphragm even when the rate of speed of the driving mechanism is too high.

Having thus described invention, what I claim as new and deslre to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a signaling device, the combination ofa sound producing diaphragm, a rotary member for mechanically agitating said diaphragm, a prime mover, a shaft continuously revolved thereby, connections for driving said member from said shaft, said connections including a multiplying gearing connected to said member, a manually operable, positive clutch, and slip connections between said gearing and said clutch for limiting the, speed of said gearing and said rotary member by the vibratory speed of the diaphragm when the speed of said prime mover exceeds said vibratory speed.

2. In a signaling device,the combination of a diaphragm,.a shaft adapted tobe secured and continuously driven by a'prime mover,

a friction disk, a positively acting controllable clutch for connnecting said'disk and said shaft, a rotary member for agitating said diaphragm, and connections between said disk and said member and including a pair and a spring for holding it in gripping of opposed friction shoes engaging with said relation to said shaft, said member acting 1% disk, and a spring for presslng them against against said spring by centrifugal force and said disk and resisting the tendency of dam permitting increased speed and slipping of trifugal force to separate them from the the said shaft when the speed of said rotary latter. omember exceeds a predetermined limit.

3. In a signaling device, the combination Signed at Sound Beach, in the county of 20 of a diaphr a shaft adapted to be driven Fairfield and State of Connecticut, this 1.6" at varying spgeds by a prime (inover, a r0- day of July, A. D. 1915. tar member or a tatin sai dia hra and connections beiiiveen aid rotarii 1115:: v ALDEN MGMDRTRY' her and said shaft including a member op- Witness: eratively connected to said rotary member FRANK D. LELAND. 

